Magic Farm 130

Chapter 130: Earth Guardian

In the end, Dan Xingyu didn’t stay overnight in the treehouse, once he learned Qi Yu’s treehouse had only a single bedroom.

He had his own reasons as well: “I had a great time here today, but I need to go back and get things ready so you’ll be just as happy at my place tomorrow.”

“All right, then.” Qi Yu was a little disappointed—he felt like there were still so many things he hadn’t shown Dan Xingyu.

Because they’d been too absorbed in their morning picnic and fishing, he’d forgotten to plant the seeds.

But it didn’t matter—there would be plenty of chances in the future.

“Well, see you tomorrow!”

Dan Xingyu waved with a smile. “Don’t make it sound so formal. We have a teleportation array—what’s the difference from living next door?”

“If you really can’t bear to part, why not come home with me now, take a tour, and then come back?”

Qi Yu was genuinely tempted, but in the end he shook his head. “Better not. I haven’t prepared a gift for visiting your home yet.”

Dan Xingyu’s smile grew even warmer.

Ever since he’d heard that sweet, heart-melting “come hang out with me more,” he hadn’t been able to wipe the smile off his face.

Ah, how could anyone be this much fun?

After seeing his friend off, Qi Yu walked to the back fields and planted the two seeds he’d drawn from the points shop’s blind boxes.

The remaining three blind boxes could wait for next time.

Six packets of seeds in total: magical plants were Moonlight Grass and Honey Crystal Flower; ordinary plants were sunflower, soybean, strawberry, and cherry.

He finished planting, watered them, and added a blessing spell.

The seeds sprouted visibly before his eyes.

The survival panel said that soybeans, strawberries, and cherries were all edible, and the latter two were popular fruits.

He couldn’t help feeling a bit of anticipation.

Suddenly, a message popped up in his personal panel.

It was from the 01 Survival Squad, which meant someone had @-ed him in the group.

He opened it.

[Need a Bit of Money to Save the Day: Family! Big news! @everyone]

[Need a Bit of Money to Save the Day: I ran into another player today.]

[Brother Civil Engineer: ? What’s going on?]

[Tranquility: Where are you now? Are you okay? Be careful.]

[Need a Bit of Money to Save the Day: Safe, safe, they didn’t see me, I quietly ran away.]

[I Love Survival Game: What happened? Were you exploring the Forest of Stars and ran into someone else?]

[Need a Bit of Money to Save the Day: Yes! Hold on, let me organize my thoughts.]

After more than a minute, Money sent a long string of text.

Because it was Safe Day, he’d prepared his supplies early last night and set out at dawn.

Come on, even though everyone in the regional channel was criticizing “Grind King” for putting pressure on people, anyone with a bit of ambition would be itching to go after hearing that.

Need a Bit of Money didn’t consider himself particularly hard-working, so he’d packed up last night intending to sleep in and head out whenever he woke up.

But a month of survival mode had trained his body clock—he woke up at eight on the dot.

Well, what else could he do but get up and get to work?

Exploring a safe forest was a pleasant experience.

The Forest of Stars was beautiful, the air was fresh—on Blue Star, it would absolutely be a “natural oxygen bar” where even office workers would come to relax on vacation.

Plus, his body stats had improved a lot, and with everything in his backpack, he didn’t have to worry about carrying weight.

When he got hungry, he’d just sit down, take out some food, and eat at his leisure.

So even if he didn’t find much all day, Money was in a great mood—just treating it as a relaxing outing.

Then he heard faint sounds, like something fighting.

He thought it was mutated creatures battling and crept over, hoping to scavenge some loot.

But when he parted the grass—

[Need a Bit of Money to Save the Day: It was a person! Definitely a player from our district, fighting mutated creatures!]

[Brother Civil Engineer: Did you make contact?]

[Need a Bit of Money to Save the Day: …No, I ran straight away. I was terrified, worried I’d run into someone who’d kill me for loot.]

So he hadn’t even seen whether the other person was male or female—he’d just sprinted back to his shelter, finally relaxed, and quickly told the group.

[Don’t Dare Open My Eyes: Money, you really are a man of mysterious luck. Even this kind of super low-probability event, you manage to run into.]

[Brother Civil Engineer: It’s not so bad if it’s just a super low-probability event. What’s worrying is, Money meeting another player might be just the beginning.]

That made the group fall silent.

After all, everyone knew Survival Game had a hidden rule: once something new appeared, the odds of others encountering it would rise sharply.

What if Money was the first to “eat the crab” again? It wouldn’t be the first time.

[I Love Survival Game: It’s possible. After all, for the whole past month, no one had ever seen another player.]

[I Love Survival Game: I have a flying mount, and when I was searching for swifts, I probably explored a wider area than most players, but I never found any sign of others.]

In fact, besides his wings, he also used mental detection, so his observation range was even bigger than he let on.

Even so, he’d never spotted another shelter in any direction nearby.

Now, just as the first month ended, on Safe Day, Money ran into someone else.

Could it really be a coincidence?

[Don’t Dare Open My Eyes: Master, when you say it like that, it’s scary. I was fine playing single-player survival, developing my territory bit by bit—why are there suddenly other people?]

[Brother Civil Engineer: Didn’t expect you to be a social phobic.]

[Brother Civil Engineer: I’m not afraid of meeting people. What worries me is that once players start running into each other, things could get chaotic.]

After all, this Survival Game world didn’t seem to have much oversight over players.

After a month, anyone still alive had developed some guts—even players who’d never killed a chicken on Blue Star could now slay mutated creatures without batting an eye.

They’d grown used to fighting and competition.

So what would happen if they met other players?

Everyone knew players had backpacks, and most probably carried their resources and items with them.

[I Love Survival Game: It’s a step we’ll have to face. In the Forest of Stars, there are only tens of thousands of players, and everyone started about the same. Later, when you go out exploring, you’ll meet more natives. Among them, there are even more powerful professionals.]

[I Love Survival Game: Survival Game told us from the start: the only goal is to get stronger and survive.]

[Need a Bit of Money to Save the Day: Boss rarely says this much—I’ll listen to the boss. Worst case, I’ll carry more life-saving items.]

[Don’t Dare Open My Eyes: Yeah, that’s true. Judging by Survival Game’s setup, there’s bound to be more exploration. You can hide for a while, but not forever.]

The group’s mood grew a bit serious. Qi Yu thought for a moment.

[I Love Survival Game: Info—Ruby King Crab. Anyone want to try it?]

[Need a Bit of Money to Save the Day: Holy crap! What’s this? King crab? And it’s a Survival Game Ruby King Crab! Boss, I want it, I want it—my mouth is watering.]

As it turned out, in the face of good food, everyone is equal.

Especially in Survival Game.

No one in the group lacked food, but seafood was rare in the Forest of Stars, let alone this kind of system-certified premium seafood.

Even Teacher Tranquility couldn’t resist the temptation.

Qi Yu and Dan Xingyu had each eaten a crab leg, so there were four left.

He sent one to each friend in the group.

[Don’t Dare Open My Eyes: You’d never guess from the description that it’s this big… Wow, with my fragile body and tiny appetite in Survival Game, I might not finish this leg in a whole day.]

[Need a Bit of Money to Save the Day: Boss, sob, even if you won’t admit it, you’ve long since become the dad I respect most in my heart.]

Thanks to Dan Xingyu, Qi Yu could now handle this kind of nonsense as a matter of course.

[I Love Survival Game: Give me back the crab leg, @Need a Bit of Money to Save the Day.]

[Need a Bit of Money to Save the Day: I didn’t say anything! Bro, boss, master! The greatest happiness of this holiday is what you gave me!]

[Don’t Dare Open My Eyes: Okay, thanks, master! Suddenly I feel full of energy! Back on Blue Star, I could never afford king crab of this quality.]

.

The evening was uneventful and safe, so Qi Yu finally had time to pull out the cultivation manual he’d bought earlier.

He decided to start with “Earth Guardian”: the best-selling body-tempering manual in the Mage Association shop, said to be highly recommended and praised by countless buyers.

Qi Yu made a point of sitting beneath the Tree of Life, full of anticipation as he opened the book.

His consciousness blurred, and he found himself in the familiar mental space.

This time, the setting was something he’d never seen before.

He stood atop a black stone platform, about a hundred square meters in size.

Beyond the platform was nothing but void, with no guardrails at the edge.

Qi Yu cautiously walked to the edge and looked down—a bottomless abyss, and at the very bottom, what looked like surging, crimson magma.

A faint yellow figure slowly formed in the air, and when it spoke, the voice was surprisingly young:

“Young mage, welcome to my body-tempering course. Are you ready to begin your training?”

No doubt, this indistinct figure was the earth-element archmage Rhein, creator of this body-tempering manual.

Qi Yu nodded. “Yes, I’m ready.”

The figure nodded. “Good. Now for your first lesson. The content: survive for half an hour under the hands of the Earth Guardian I summon.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the figure vanished.

Qi Yu suddenly felt his body grow inexplicably heavy, and realized his magic power had been sealed. He couldn’t sense any magic elements in this mental space.

“Roar!”

A furious roar sounded in his ear.

From the rocky ground ahead, a tall figure slowly emerged.

About three meters tall, entirely gray-white, featureless.

[Enraged Earth Guardian: An enraged Earth Guardian will attack any living creature in its line of sight.]

The archmage’s voice came from somewhere, “Good luck, little mage. The Earth Guardian hits really hard.”

As if on cue, the stone giant threw back its head and roared, then charged at Qi Yu.

Boom, boom, boom—the entire platform seemed to shake with its running.

Qi Yu: ???

Wait.

So, Earth Guardian isn’t the name of a technique, but the name of this big guy?

He twisted nimbly to the side, dodging the charge.

He barely had time to catch his breath when a rocky arm swung out of nowhere and smashed into his back.

With searing pain, Qi Yu was sent flying, plunging into the boiling magma below.

Darkness.

Then light.

He found himself standing on the platform again.

The Earth Guardian slowly rose from the stone.

Qi Yu: “…”

So, this so-called best-selling mage body-tempering manual is just… getting beaten up?

He remembered the note on the purchase page: “Praised by countless buyers.”

Mage Association shop, I don’t think you’re being honest.